Edward Krasiński (1925–2004) was a central figure in the Polish neo-avant-garde and one of the most significant Eastern European artists of the twentieth century. His artistic career took shape relatively late. After studying design and painting in Kraków, he moved to Warsaw in 1954, where he worked as an illustrator and designer. Alongside his professional work, he developed a painterly practice shaped by Dada and Surrealism, before abandoning traditional painting to explore new forms of artistic expression. In 1965, at the age of forty, he held his first solo exhibition.

One of Krasiński’s most distinctive means of expression was blue tape, which from 1968 onwards became a recurring and iconic element of his work. The artist himself described his method in these words: “I stick it horizontally, at a height of 130 centimetres, everywhere and on everything.” The blue line evolved from a seemingly simple intervention in its surroundings into an independent artistic language.

In 1970, Krasiński moved into the Warsaw apartment of the Polish Constructivist Henryk Stażewski. Stażewski became a close friend and an important mentor, introducing him to influential gallerists. After Stażewski’s death in 1988, Krasiński processed the loss through temporary works and installations.

In 1989, he presented the exhibition Homage to Stażewski at Foksal Gallery, which he had also co-founded. Here he recreated their shared home through large-scale photographs of different parts of the interior, including bookshelves, walls and Stażewski’s paintings, combined with Krasiński’s own works. The installation forms the basis of what is today known as the Avant-Garde Institute.

Krasiński’s international breakthrough took further shape in 1970, when he took part in the 10th International Tokyo Biennale, Between Man and Matter. When his works were delayed in transit, he responded with a gesture that would prove highly significant for his practice and that has been regarded as a forerunner of Polish conceptual art.

Rather than waiting for the works to arrive, he sent a telex in which the word “BLUE” was repeated five thousand times. He had telegraphed the organisers in advance, instructing them to lay the long strip of paper out on a pedestal together with the earlier telegram.

The roughly 80-metre-long strip was displayed until the intended works arrived. At Krasiński’s instruction, the telex strip was then placed in a bulletproof glass display case. Through this seemingly simple yet radical act, the focus shifted from the physical art object to the idea, the instruction and the artistic gesture itself. There is something both humorous and radical in this. Krasiński did not even need his sculptures to create a work of art – he could let an idea, a word and a strip of blue tape take their place.

Perhaps that is precisely where his mastery lies: he made the seemingly insignificant infinitely meaningful. A simple strip of tape could mark out a territory, measure a room and make us see our surroundings with new eyes.